Paraxantia jianyuni Wu & Liu, 2024

Wu, Chao & Liu, Chun-Xiang, 2024, A new species of the genus Paraxantia Liu & Kang, 2009 - the first record from Hainan Island, China (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae), Zootaxa 5481 (4), pp. 471-476 : 472-474

Paraxantia jianyuni Wu & Liu sp. nov. 建DZ似ēāü

Figs. 1–5 .

Type Material. Holotype. ♂, China: Hainan Province, Ledong Li Autonomous County, Jian’feng’ling Mt. (尖 Ḇẇ), 108.877°E, 18.711°N; 895m; 10.IV.2024; Jian-Yun Wang leg. ( IZCAS) . Paratypes. 3♂, same data, but collected in 13.IV.2024. ( IZCAS) . 2♂ same data. ( CAU) .

Description.

Large-sized for the genus, the overall characteristics of the new species are consistent with P. s inica species group, but tibia of the hind leg is thick and slightly arched. ( Fig. 1 ).

Male.

Head. Ovoid, elongate; occiput convex and smooth, dorsally round. Compound eyes elongate, protruding. Antennae slender, long and flexible, shorter than body.

Pronotum. Pronotum gradually tilting and widened backwards; anterior margin concave, posterior margin convex with a small middle notch; with deeply engraved first transverse groove; pronotum with lateral carinae with minute, inconspicuous teeth; surface of disk with one oblique slightly granular line emanating from the middle of each lateral carina, not extending to the posterior margin; lateral lobes deeper than long; anterior margin straight, posterior margin slightly arched. ( Fig. 2A, B ).

Legs. Fore femur slightly shorter than pronotum, slightly widened in apical half, external ventral margin with 4–5 small spines, without internal spines. Fore tibia slightly shorter than femur, slightly flat, with 4 sparsely arranged small external ventral spines, without dorsal spines; fore tibia with tympanum conchate on both sides, opening of the tympanum very narrow, slit, slight swelling at tympana area ( Fig. 2E ). Middle femur normal, external margin with about 7–8 external ventral spines. Middle tibia slightly shorter than femur, flat, with about 5 sparsely arranged small spines on external margin. Hind legs elongate. Hind femur enlarged at basal half, and gradually narrowed towards apex, slightly swollen near knee; external ventral margin with 15–17 external spines and 4 internal spines on apical half. Hind tibia as long as femur; hind tibia robust, slightly curved; the tibia is uniformly widened from the base to the end, no significant further expansion in the base half; dorsally bearing 24–26 close-packed external and 25–27 internal spines with similar size, with about 4 small spines on apical of ventral margin. ( Fig. 2F ).

Wings. Tegmen and hind wing fully developed. Leaf-like tegmen very long, about 5.5 times longer than pronotum. Stridulatory file of left tegmen slender, elongated, cambered; about 4.5 mm long, with about 90 teeth, with a distinct difference in density on both ends. About 63–66 densely-arranged thin teeth lying in proximal half, while about 24–28 teeth sparsely-arranged wide teeth lying in distal half ( Fig. 2C ). The density gradually decreasing distad from central region, with the width of the teeth also gradually decreasing. Hind wing projecting beyond tegmen, wide, colorless, transparent except for tip with greenish pale veins.

Abdomen. Short, compressed. Tenth abdominal tergum broad, concave in middle; anal flap tongue-shaped, hairy. Subgenital plate elongate, anteriorly wide, sharply tapering into a narrow apical half, with notch at apex. Subgenital plate with short styli. Cerci robust, hairy, furcated at apex; dorsal furca conical, short, extending and sloping inwards and upwards, with slightly pointed apex; apical one flat, spoon-shaped; ventral one horizontally extending inwards, abruptly tapering apicad into a long sharp spine ( Fig. 2D ).

External genitalia. Phallus sacciform. Membranous structure of phallic induration with 2 hardened lobes, densely covered with tiny spines; phallic lobes weakly sclerotized, "L"-shaped, with truncated apex ( Fig. 3A ). Titillator sclerotized, with two short branches; angle among the two branches comparatively large; the lateral keel on branches with small spines ( Fig. 3B ).

Coloration. Generally fresh green when alive, with some purplish brown spots on lateral surface of meso- and metathorax. Compound eyes yellowish green. Antennae yellowish brown, except for green base. Pronotum without pale yellow stripe along lateral keel. Tegmen green, opaque; veins green. Hind wings hyaline, with green exposed part; the pointed end bearing a tiny black spot. Base of fore legs yellow; all spines on femur of hind legs yellowish green. The fourth tarsal segment of all legs black on the side ( Fig. 4A ).

Female. Unknown.

Measurements (mm). length of pronotum: ♂ 11.5–12.0; length of tegmen: ♂ 64.0–65.2; width of tegmen: ♂ 23.5–25.1; length of anterior femur: ♂ 8.4–9.2; length of middle femur: ♂ 11.2–11.9; length of posterior femur: ♂ 25.7–26.5.

Etymology. The new species is named after Dr Jian-Yun Wang, who is a researcher in Assassin Bug taxonomy, for collecting the type specimens.

Distribution. China: Hainan Island.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Holotype of Paraxantia jianyuni sp. nov., body in lateral view. (IZCAS).

FIGURE 2. Head and pronotum, male stridulatory file, cercus, fore and hind tibia of Paraxantia spp.. A, B: head and pronotum; C: male stridulatory file on underside of left tegmen; D: cercus; E: fore tibia, lateral view; F–H: hind tibia, lateral view; A: lateral view; B: dorsal view; A–F: P. jianyuni sp. nov.; G: P. rubripes; H: P. daweishanensis.

FIGURE 3. Male external genitalia of Paraxantia jianyuni sp. nov.. A: lateral view; B: dorsal view.

FIGURE 4. Paraxantia jianyuni sp. nov. A: living adult male; B: and woodland habitat in Jian’feng’ling Mt. (Hainan Island, China).

FIGURE 5. Distribution map of the Paraxantia jianyuni sp. nov. in Hainan Island, China.